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Car Forum / Ford / Ford Trucks / January 2007FORD F350 DIESEL MILEAGE
Hi, I have a Ford F350 diesel 4WD SRW, 2002 with a 6 speed manual. Lo miles on the ODO. A Lance camper is more or less permanently mounted in the 8' bed. All I use the truck for is "retirement traveling". I want to improve the mileage without major engine mods or diminishing the engine & drive train durability. OK you guys..I know that I could remove the camper to get better mileage, you fail to also mention that I could also get rid of the truck since I'd have no more use for it, maybe get a Honda insight & pay for hotel rooms on travel. Just that there aren't any hotels where I go. My driving style is conservative (in Canada, Alaska), I operate around 50 to 55mph. There is a huge selection of stuff on the internet & magazines that advertise increased "towing" mileage along with torque & HP gains. Many claims are from well known and reliable manufacturers. Based on 100,000 miles of driving at 10MPG X $4/gal = $40,000. It's an eye-popper, no? Based on 100,000 miles of driving at 13MPG X $4/gal = $31,000 Diesel in Canada was $4 in 05, over the course of the next 100,000 miles, the price will not go down! 3 MPG increase in mileage will save me $9,000 so the cost of an efficient exhaust + a fuel chip has the potential of easily paying for itself. Most aftermarket stuff places emphasis HP & torque gains. I don't really care about these. I want mileage. If increased perfromance comes along with better mileage, OK, so long as loads on the engine, transmission, u-joints do not materially reduce reliability. I would consider the following upgrades in diminishing order. : 1) Replacing the stock exhaust with one that improves efficiency. 2) Using a "performance chip". 3) Replacing the air intake. 4) Upgrading the intercooler if that would help. 5) lastly I might consider upgrading the exhaust turbine. I'm looking for similar truck drivers who can offer insight & recommendations based on their own experience. Spam is cheap, serious replys only please. Please email reports. penglish1@earthlink.net phil.english@lmco.com Thanks, Phil English Salinas, Ca. When all is said and done, on your 2002, it has already been optimized by Ford, leaving VERY little room for fuel mileage improvement. Your best possible mileage improvement is going to be EASY driving habits. Slow starts, steady throttle control, easy (slow) hill climbing, anticipated slow stops, staying under 55 miles per hour. You will gain more from that than all the aftermarket modifications combined. Good Luck Besides, 10 MPG is not so bad, 10 MPG beats the heck out of 6 MPG all day long... :-) > Hi, > [quoted text clipped - 60 lines] > Phil English > Salinas, Ca. > Hi, > > I have a Ford F350 diesel 4WD SRW, 2002 with a 6 speed manual. Lo miles > > on the ODO. A Lance camper is more or less permanently mounted in the > 8' bed. How tall is this camper over the roof on your truck? I went to their website and some of those campers are almost 5' over the top of the truck!! That is HUGE for gas milage savings!! They shouldn't stick up that high. > All I use the truck for is "retirement traveling". > [quoted text clipped - 31 lines] > along with better mileage, OK, so long as loads on the engine, > transmission, u-joints do not materially reduce reliability. Torque gains are what increase your milage, so long as you DONT hammer down on the throttle and continue your normal driving habits as outlined above. HP is only required for getting up to speed faster. Torque gains are what I would be looking at for an aftermarket chip. > I would consider the following upgrades in diminishing order. : > > 1) Replacing the stock exhaust with one that improves efficiency. Replace with a 4" diameter exhaust, to reduce backflow > 2) Using a "performance chip". Look for higher torque gains that allow you the most torque at the lowest RPM. > 3) Replacing the air intake. Need to find a system that allows the air to flow more freely and with less restriction. I think K&N make a good system for this. > 4) Upgrading the intercooler if that would help. Upgrading to one that has a higher heat transfer rate would help, that would allow for cooler air into the combustion chamber, thus adding to the amount of air into the combustion chamber. > 5) lastly I might consider upgrading the exhaust turbine. Well a bigger turbine will spin up faster, but you have to be careful about how much pressure you make. You forgot to include checking with the Dealer to see if any PCM recalibrations are available. > I'm looking for similar truck drivers who can offer insight & > recommendations based on their own experience. [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > Phil English > Salinas, Ca. Phil, Read my comments above. And at the same time, read this page: http://www.bankspower.com/im_OffRoad_March04.cfm You will see that everything you have listed that you are willing to do, will increase your torque. Not only that but you can pretty much buy all the parts direct from them to do the neccessary upgrades. Ford did not optimize this engine. It was built by International, and reviewed by Ford. As you can see from the article on the page I posted, the turbine was downsized to make it quieter, thus hurting performance, as well as a muriad of other parts that hurt performance. I will say if you do ALL of these upgrades, which is almost a requirement if you start to do them, and can be ordered in a bundle straight from Banks. You are looking at about $3,000 - $4,000.00 in parts, here is the page for that http://store.bankspower.com/Categories.aspx?Category=ad6ae698-05d3-4581-aa98-375 06e493efe . But as you previously stated, it could possibly save you $9,000.00 in the first year alone! Let alone how much it will keep saving you. So it would probably pay for itself in the first 4-6 months. On a side note, my name is Phil too.. LOL Ford Tech |
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